Deal teardown · Recruitment & staffing agencies

Rcapital's acquisition of Gap Personnel — a corporate carve-out teardown

On 14 April 2025, private-capital investor Rcapital acquired Cheshire-headquartered recruitment agency Gap Personnel in a corporate carve-out. The deal was backed by a £23.5m facility from Secure Trust Bank Commercial Finance. Gap Personnel generates roughly £200m in annual revenue across industrial, professional, technical and healthcare recruitment.

By Chris at Sell LtdLast updated 1 January 1970

Editorial disclosure. Sell Ltd did not advise on this transaction. This page is an editorial analysis of a publicly-reported UK acquisition. Every fact is sourced from the linked press releases and trade coverage at the bottom of the page. Quotes are lifted verbatim from those sources only; we do not invent seller quotes.

TL;DR

Rcapital carved out Gap Personnel (c.£200m revenue) with £23.5m of Secure Trust Bank facility support in April 2025. Recruitment sales sit in a tight multiple band — 4–7× adjusted EBITDA depending on temp/perm mix, contract stickiness and gross-margin quality. The Gap deal is a reminder that at scale, financial-buyer economics (debt package, cash conversion) matter more than sector romance.

Deal facts

Acquirer: Rcapital
Target: Gap Personnel Group Limited
Announcement date: 14 April 2025
Deal structure: Corporate carve-out — debt-backed acquisition
Disclosed price: Undisclosed (£23.5m Secure Trust Bank facility disclosed)

Sector context — what this multiple means for other recruitment & staffing agencies owners

Typical multiple range

4–7× adjusted EBITDA, with premium for perm-heavy, sector-specialist agencies

Size band this applies to

£2m–£200m revenue

UK recruitment is a permanent-versus-temp story. Permanent placement revenue is one-off and higher-margin — buyers pay 5–7× EBITDA. Temp/contract revenue is recurring but capital-intensive (you fund the workers before the client pays) — buyers pay 4–5× EBITDA on the funded book. A blended agency like Gap Personnel is priced on the weighted mix. The single fastest way to move your multiple in this sector is to shift the perm/temp ratio toward perm in the 12 months before sale.

What a recruitment & staffing agencies owner should learn from this

Perm placement revenue is worth more per pound than temp/contract revenue — plan the mix 12+ months out.
Working-capital intensity kills multiples. If you fund contractors weekly and get paid monthly, model the debt package a buyer will need — it caps what they can pay for equity.
Sector specialisation (STEM, healthcare, hospitality) commands a premium over generalist. A 100% healthcare desk is worth more than a mixed desk of the same EBITDA.
Consultant retention drives buyer confidence more than any other metric. A desk that lost its top biller last quarter will be discounted 20-40%.
GDPR and worker-status compliance (IR35, agency worker regs) are the first three DD questions. Have documented policies and audit trail.
Framework agreements (NHS, LPP, CCS) transfer with the entity but require novation — check clauses before you sign heads.
The buyer will model gross margin per consultant, revenue per desk and NFI (net fee income) growth. Have 24 months of clean data.

Illustrative · not a claim

How a Sell Ltd process would have looked

For a UK recruitment agency in the £2–20m revenue band, a Sell Ltd process would run: (1) Chris drafts the confidential teaser with headline perm/temp mix, sector focus and average NFI-per-consultant; (2) buyer matching prioritises UK sector-specialist consolidators and PE-backed recruitment platforms with an M&A track record in the last 36 months; (3) IM built around perm/temp mix, consultant retention, framework wins and working-capital profile. Sell Ltd did not advise on the Rcapital/Gap Personnel deal — this is illustrative of our process for owner-managed agencies.

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Other UK deal teardowns

Nine more editorial teardowns of real UK acquisitions — one per sector — sourced from public press releases and trade coverage.

Frequently asked questions

How much did Rcapital pay for Gap Personnel?

Enterprise value was not publicly disclosed. Rcapital's acquisition was backed by a £23.5m facility from Secure Trust Bank Commercial Finance.

What multiple do UK recruitment agencies typically sell for?

In our modelling of recent UK agency deals, EBITDA multiples cluster at 4–7×, with perm-heavy sector specialists at the top of the range and blended temp/perm generalists at the lower end.

Should a recruitment agency sell to PE or a strategic?

PE typically pays for a management team, cash conversion and buy-and-build story. Strategics pay for sector fit and consultant additions. Below £2m EBITDA, a strategic will usually pay more; above £5m EBITDA, PE competes hard.

How long does a recruitment agency sale take?

6–10 months is realistic for a clean £2–10m revenue agency from confidential listing to completion. IR35 audit and framework novation add time.

What kills a recruitment agency sale?

Top-biller concentration (one consultant driving >30% of NFI), unresolved IR35 exposure, contractor mis-classification history, and unfunded holiday pay accruals.

How do I present temp vs perm split in an IM?

As NFI (net fee income) — not gross revenue. Temp gross revenue overstates the size of the business relative to what a buyer will actually acquire.

How is EBITDA adjusted in a recruitment agency sale?

Standard add-backs: owner salary, one-off recruitment marketing, ATS licence over-provision, personal expenses. Buyers will strip out any recurring marketing spend and non-recurring consultant bonuses that will need to repeat.

What Companies House data does a recruitment buyer look at?

Filed accounts, PSC register, charges (any invoice discounting facility), director history, and the parent-subsidiary structure if the business runs an umbrella.

What sources did you use for this teardown?

Recruiter (trade press) coverage of the Rcapital/Gap Personnel deal and Gap Personnel's company site. Sell Ltd did not advise on this transaction.

Where can I value my own recruitment agency?

Start with our free valuation calculator and the EBITDA-multiple lookup for professional services — both are linked from the /sell-my-business hub.

Sources

Every deal fact on this page traces to one of the sources below. All external.

Editorial correction? Email info@sellltd.co.uk — we correct any factual error within 48 hours.

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